Feel free to keep treating the Vegas Golden Knights like an expansion team. Really, they don’t mind being taken lightly.
The trouble is, they’re hard to overlook given an 8-3 start (16 points). That despite losing their top three goaltenders — Marc-Andre Fleury, Malcolm Subban and Oscar Dansk — to injury after trading Calvin Pickard to Toronto. Maxime Lagace became the fourth goalie to start for the Golden Knights on Tuesday night in New York, and 19-year-old Dylan Ferguson was recalled from juniors to be their fifth to dress in a game.
This isn’t your ordinary expansion team. The Golden Knights, who visit Boston tonight, have a legitimate chance to surpass the 1993-94 Florida Panthers’ record for most wins (33) and points (83) by an expansion franchise. It should be pointed out that Florida’s mark came in an 84-game season while Vegas will play 82 in its inaugural regular season.
“I hope they treat us like lesser of a team,” Vegas forward Erik Haula said. “We’re OK with that. We’re OK with the underdog role for the whole season. We’re trying to outwork teams and prove a point to everybody that we’re all good players. It’s been a lot of fun. We have a great group.”
Feel free to enjoy all the sights and distractions of their city, too. Teams try to treat the visit to Vegas like a business trip, but this is Vegas, with entertainment around every corner. The Golden Knights are 6-1 at home.
“They’re no slouch at all. They’re a good team,” said Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson, whose team was routed by Vegas, 7-0, last Friday. “I’m not really surprised at all.”
Vegas could be in the thick of the postseason conversation, too. The last expansion teams to make the postseason were the 1979-80 Edmonton Oilers and Hartford Whalers, who were coming over from the World Hockey Association, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
The players certainly had a strong vibe this could be a memorable season from the opening faceoff.
“We knew what kind of club we had. We knew we’d be fine,” said forward James Neal, who leads a balanced scoring attack with seven goals and three assists. “We put together some good games. Hopefully, we continue to do that.”
Blackhawks 3, Flyers 0
Chicago
Artem Anisimov and Jonathan Toews scored 20 seconds apart in the second and Crawford took over from there, helping Chicago kill off three Philadelphia power plays in the last half of the game.
Rookie Alex DeBrincat added an empty-net goal with 1:49 left in Crawford’s 22nd career shutout.
Brian Elliott made 32 stops for Philadelphia, which was coming off a 4-3 overtime loss to lowly Arizona on Monday. The Flyers have dropped four of five heading into Thursday night’s game at Central Division-leading St. Louis.
Chicago had dropped five of six, prompting coach Joel Quenneville to juggle his lines and defensive pairings in search of a spark. Quenneville also had his team do sprints at the end of practice on Tuesday after he grew frustrated with the effort by the players.